Historically, construction of composite structures that define non-planar surface contours has been a serial process in which a plurality of plies of composite material is located layer-by-layer on a layup mandrel. While such a process may be effective, it may be inefficient and/or costly to implement, especially with larger and/or more complex composite structures. As composite structures become more complex, such as may be the case for airplanes and/or portions thereof, a time required to complete such a layer-by-layer assembly may become significant.
More recently, drape-forming processes have been developed that permit layered charges of composite material to be formed and/or laid up on a flat, or at least substantially flat, surface and subsequently deformed to a final, or desired, shape. However, deformation of the layered charge may induce undesired buckles and/or wrinkles within the layered charge, and these buckles and/or wrinkles may preclude the use of a conventional drape forming process in certain applications, such as aircraft construction. Thus, there exists a need for improved systems and methods for defining a surface contour of a layered charge of material.